Beautiful Typhoon
by The Original Space Cadet
Summary: Vash is turned into a woman. As Vash & co's journeys continue, Meryl must ask if she can love Vash in this form. Shoujoai. Please R&R.


Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun or the characters.

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Night had fallen on the city of Erip. The light of a full moon, along with the brightness of the stars in the sky illuminated the dark streets. On one street in particular was a hotel. Earlier in the day, four guests had checked in. Three of them currently sat in one of the two rooms they had rented. They were circled around a small table. A fourth chair sat empty, indicating the missing member of their group. 

"He should be back by now. Where could he be?" Meryl Strife shook her head, wearing an agitated expression. The petite woman's dark hair moved along in perfect synchronization.

Nicholas D. Wolfwood discarded his cigarette into an already overfilled ashtray and lit a new one. "Damn it, needle noggin," he sighed, exhaling a mouthful of smoke, "how long does it take to go find some food?"

The third member of the trio, Millie Thompson, had a worried look on her face. "Do you think he's okay? What if something happens?"

Meryl smiled and patted the larger, brunette woman on the back. "Don't worry. He may be an idiot, but he can take care of himself."

"I'm sure Mr. Vash will be alright, but what if something happens to our dinner? Or the pudding? He said he'd bring me pudding for dessert!" Millie sobbed at the thought of harm befalling her beloved pudding.

Meryl and Wolfwood both let out exasperated sighs. The door swung open, and Vash the Stampede walked through, bags of food and drink in hand. "Did someone say something about pudding?"

Her face beaming, Millie leapt up and rushed Vash, her arms outstretched. "Pudding!"

"Whoa! Hey, not so fast!" Vash nearly tripped backwards as he tried to dodge the pudding-woman.

Leaping out of their chair, Meryl and Wolfwood latched on to Millie and pulled her back to the table. "Millie, calm down!"

Millie's eyes began to water. "Pudding…" she moaned sadly.

"Alright, alright, relax." Vash sat down at the table and put the bags down on the floor next to him. He began to rummage through their contents, putting them onto the table. "Peanut butter sandwiches, ice cold cola, doughnuts, and last but not least…pudding!"

"Vash, couldn't you get something a little healthier," Meryl complained.

Vash shot her a look. "Maybe next time you should buy dinner then."

"Calm down, you two," Wolfwood interrupted. "I need to bless the food. After all, I am a priest." Bowing his head, Wolfwood began to bless the food. "Lord, thanks for the food. Let it taste good. Amen."

Vash stared at him. "What kind of blessing was that?"

Wolfwood snarled. "Who's the priest, you or me? Let's eat." With that said he turned to the food on the table and dug in to a peanut butter sandwich. Vash shrugged and did the same.

After all the sandwiches and doughnuts had been eaten, Vash, Meryl, and Wolfwood watched as Millie examined her empty pudding carton, making sure she hadn't missed any. _She's such a child_, the three thought in unison.

Satisfied she hadn't wasted any of the precious pudding, Millie discarded the carton in the trash. "That was really yummy! Thanks, Mr. Vash!"

"You're welcome."

Meryl looked at her watch. "It's getting late. We should get some sleep. Come on, Millie."

"Okay."

Wolfwood stood up and went over to Millie. "I'll walk you to your room." Millie and Meryl's room was right next door, but Wolfwood's offer didn't seem strange at all to Millie. Taking Wolfwood's hand, she walked out of the room with him. Meryl followed behind, shaking her head.

Rain was a rarity on the desert planet, a thunderstorm much more so. So it came as a shock to all four travelers when a large thunderbolt jolted them out of bed. Vash was the first to awaken, his eyes open in a split second as he sprang upright. Wolfwood was next, jumping out of his bed on the opposite side of the room. Not two seconds later, Meryl and Millie came running through the door.

"So it woke you girls up too," Wolfwood asked.

"It sure did." Meryl's voice was one of awe. "We don't get weather like this very often. It must have been years since we had a thunderstorm."

Too surprised by the sudden storm to sleep, and not wanting to miss such a rare sight, the four took the chairs by the table and arranged them near the window. Vash wasn't quite as in awe as the rest. He'd lived for more than a century, after all, so he had seen his share of rare things. But that didn't stop him from appreciating the beauty of sharing a rare sight with those he cared about. Settling into his chair, he watched the rain pour, the lightning flash, and listened to the roar of the thunder. Stealing a quick glance at his companions, Vash noticed Wolfwood's arm draped around Millie and smiled. When his gaze fell on Meryl, it seemed as if she was both aware of it and flustered, and was trying hard to focus on the storm. Vash returned his gaze to the window and did the same.

About an hour into the storm, the biggest lightning bolt yet flashed in the distance. Several minutes later, a faint light began to glow. Soon it grew bigger and brighter. It continued to do so over the course of the next few minutes, and what had been awe turned to uncertainty. What was that light? Uncertainty became fear as screams of panic from the town became audible. Soon they were loud enough to rival the thunder in terms of volume. The screaming became louder until it was audile in the hallway. Running to the door, Vash flung it open. People were running about in panic, screaming in fear.

"What's happening?" The man ignored Vash's inquiry and continued to yell.

Grabbing another man by the shoulder, Vash turned him around. "What happened?"

"Didn't you hear?" Panic was evident in the man's voice and his body was cold with fear. "That last lightning bolt hit the plant! It caused a power surge and now it's overloading!"

Vash dropped the man. "Shit." He ran down the stairs and out of the hotel.

Still sitting down, Meryl, Wolfwood and Millie stared at each other as they digested what the man had just said. "The plant…" Wolfwood whispered.

"Overloading," Meryl finished in fear.

Wolfwood stood up. "Come on, we gotta go!" Grabbing Millie by the hand he charged out of the room, ignoring her protests, with Meryl right behind. The rain pelted them as the raced through the streets to the plant. The increasing light gave away the location, but with the streets filled with panicked townspeople, it took several minutes longer than it should have to get there. There was a throng of townspeople and plant technicians when they arrived, but no sign of Vash.

Tapping a technician on the shoulder, Meryl asked "Did you see a tall man with blonde spiky hair wearing a red coat?"

The technician nodded. "Yeah, he showed up a couple of minutes ago. Then he went inside the plant! We tried to stop him but it was no use."

Meryl sighed as she turned back to face Millie and Wolfwood. "Shouldn't we go after him," Millie asked.

"It wouldn't do any good," Meryl said. "Besides, he stopped a similar situation before. I'm sure he can do it again."

"Meryl's right," Wolfwood said. "There's nothing we can do except hope he knows what he's doing." _So, _he thought, _how are you going to get everyone out of this, Vash the Stampede?_

Vash could feel the power pulsating from the main chamber where the plant was housed as he got closer to it. He'd stopped plants from overloading before, but this was the biggest power surge he'd ever seen, as well as the first to take place under circumstances like this. He had to find a way to stop it. If he didn't, the plant would explode, taking out an entire city of 50,000 people with it. Finally, Vash arrived at the main chamber. Stepping up to the large bulb which housed the living being inside the plant's core, he could make out a female face, writhing in pain. Electricity danced all around.

Ignoring the sting of the electric shock, Vash reached out and put his hands against the plant. Drawing himself close to look at the angel-like being inside face to face, he said soothingly, "It's going to be alright. I can help you. Trust me."

The angel asked him how.

"I'm just like you," Vash answered. "If you can bleed off the excess energy I can absorb it and you'll be fine. Trust me."

The angel trusted Vash and began to bleed off the excess energy it had sustained. Multi-colored lighting bolts flashed through the plant and into Vash's body. The excess electricity from the lighting storm was merging with the plant's own naturally-produced energy as it left. Vash grunted in pain and began to scream. Sensing the great pain Vash was in, the angel wanted to stop, but Vash assured them it was okay. "I can handle it. Don't stop until you're stable again, got it?" The angel complied.

Vash continued to scream in pain as the electricity flew into his body. Lighting trickled across him. Finally, the plant had bled off enough excess energy so it was at stable power levels and the pain stopped. Vash felt a new, strange sensation wash over him, but didn't have time to identify it as he collapsed.

Outside, the glowing subsided as the plant returned to normal. Ignoring their rain-drenched bodies, the crowd let out a cheer of triumph. Wolfwood, Meryl, and Millie started to race inside, but were stopped by a technician.

"Sorry, but it still might not be totally safe. I can't let you in."

"Come on," Meryl protested. "The man that just saved your entire city is our friend."

The technician relented and let them go on ahead. The three rushed to the main chamber…and gasped at the figure lying before them.

"Is he dead," Meryl asked, horror in her voice.

Wolfwood went and checked Vash's pulse. "Nope, old needle noggin's fine." Then he got a closer look at Vash and gasped.

"What is it?"

"See for yourself." Wolfwood's tone was one of disbelief as he turned Vash over.

"No way," Meryl gasped.

"Wow," Millie exclaimed. "That sure is weird, isn't it, Meryl?"

"Weird doesn't even begin to cover it, Millie."

Just then, the technician came up behind them. "Hey, I wanted to check if your friend is alright and thank him for-whoa!" His eyes went wide as he saw the figure lying on the floor. It was certainly _not_ the same figure that had charged in earlier to stop the plant from overloading. "What happened?"

"We're not sure." Looking at the technician, Meryl said, "We need to get out of here, but I don't want to have to answer a bunch of questions I don't have the answers to. Is there a back door?"

The technician nodded. "I can help you take them there."

"Thank you." Meryl looked back at Millie and Wolfwood. "Go back to the hotel and get our things and the car, then meet us out back."

Wolfwood nodded. "Will do." Sparing one last glance at the unconscious Vash, he took Millie by the hand and led her out of the plant.

Slowly, Vash swam back to consciousness. Opening his eyes, he looked around and noticed he was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. Wolfwood, Millie, and Meryl were seated across the room watching him.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Vash the Stampede."

Vash ignored Wolfwood's greeting as everything came back to him. The storm, the plant…

"The plant! What happened?" Vash didn't notice his voice was much higher than usual.

"You stopped it and saved the city," Millie responded.

Vash breathed a sigh of relief.

"But…"

Vash didn't like the tone of Meryl's voice. "But what?"

"Well," Meryl said, "see for yourself."

Meryl held up a mirror for Vash and he was shocked at the reflection. The face that stared back at him was soft and feminine in appearance. The eyes were smooth and sparkling, the ears and nose were small and delicate, the lips were puffy, and what had been spikey blonde hair that stood upright was now soft and luscious, as it spilled down Vash's back. Vash fainted.

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That's right, Vash is a woman now! How did it happen? Will Vash be able to change back? How will this affect his relationships? His adventures? What gender-bending fun will ensue?

Reviews are greatly appreciated and would make me happy.


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